The present invention relates to a method of producing a surgical saw blade comprising a clamping portion and a working area provided with a toothing.
Surgical saw blades of the described type are known from the prior art in many different designs. They are mounted on drive units by which they are induced to perform an oscillating reciprocating movement. In this process the toothing portion which is shaped in the form of a circular arc is moved accordingly, whereby a cutting operation is made possible. The sawing or cutting operation may be performed by manual guiding; alternatively, it is also possible to use the surgical saw blade by means of a template to ensure a precise guidance of the cutting operation. Saw blades of the described type are typically made from thin steel of high strength, the thickness being in orders ranging from approximately 0.7 to 0.2 mm.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a surgical saw blade which, while being of a simple design and easy to use, can be carried out at low costs and also permits the production of high-precision saw blades.
According to the invention this object is achieved by the features of the main independent claim; the dependent claims show further advantageous developments of the invention.
Thus, according to the invention the clamping portion and the working area are produced by means of an etching method and the toothing is then cut by means of a laser type cutting method.
The saw blade according to the invention is characterized by a number of considerable advantages.
Thanks to the use of a shape etching method, it is possible to produce the outer contour of the saw blades rapidly and above all at low costs and to achieve the necessary precision. When the toothing is produced, an etching method is of no advantage because an etching method will always leave rounded or at least slightly rounded edges. This is not useful for sharp cutting edges. With the laser type cutting method according to the invention, it is thus possible to produce the toothing itself in a precise way in such a manner that sharp cutting edges are obtained. An after-treatment or grinding of the toothing is thus not required.
In a particularly advantageous development of the invention, the toothing is prefabricated by means of the etching method with a tolerance and finished with the laser type cutting method. The amount of material to be removed by the laser type cutting method can thus be minimized considerably.
Normally, recesses are formed in surgical saw blades in the clamping portion to permit an attachment to a drive unit. According to the invention, these recesses, like the recesses in the working area, can be produced by means of the etching method in a particularly simple and inexpensive manner. In particular, this is possible in the same working steps as the formation of the outer contour.
A further advantage of the procedure according to the invention is that different thickness ranges of the clamping portion and/or of the working area can be produced by means of the etching method. For instance, it is possible to keep the thickness of the clamping portion unchanged, as compared to the starting material, while the working area may have a reduced thickness. It is particularly advantageous when the toothing has a larger thickness than the working area, in particular in the area of the tooth tips of the toothing. The cutting performance is thereby enhanced. On the other hand, the mechanical strength of the toothing itself is increased.
According to the invention the saw blade is preferably made from surgical steel; in particular, martensitic steels or austenitic steels having a strength of greater than 1000 N/mm2 may be used and can be hardened to the necessary hardness or have a corresponding basic hardness.